I first saw The Ex in November 1986, in a pub in Oxford, before Andy Moor joined Terrie Ex on guitar.
I liked noise. But The Ex’s noise was about something, a crafted and constructed sequence of intense moments and sustained power; and there were spaces for the band to surprise themselves. On the way home, I felt like I’d been thoroughly told off, and I resolved to be a better person. This lasted for a day or so, but as a generation of listeners grew conditioned to the rock reflex, and driven into the stormy seas of free jazz and free improvisation, so it seemed The Ex did to, and my tastes, for one, have expanded under the band members’ ongoing influences.
Ken Vandermark is the perfect player to defeat the prejudices of free jazz skeptics. The Chicago saxophonist looks like a US Marines drill sergeant on his day off, here to do a Job Of Work. Vandermark does not play as of involved in namby-pamby philosophical negotiations with abstract ideas of transcendence. He has targets to meet and will achieve them by whatever means are most effective on that particular date. I imagine he’d call men Sir and women Ma’am, and I don’t want to know any different.
As we left a Peter Brotzmann performance at Café Oto last February, my wife told me Paal Nilssen-Love’s closing drum freak-out was the single most amazing performance she had ever seen in her life. As she did so, a man butted in for an autograph because I am a mid-table British comedian. The moment immediately compromised, my wife railed at me about how our relationship could not survive such rare epiphanies being consistently spoiled by these apparently unavoidable interruptions, and I had to spend the night at a service station off the M25. Nilssen-Love’s was the drum solo that nearly cost me my marrage. And that’s jazz!
Historically and musically, Lean Left squares the circle, two different approaches to the same end result meeting head on, accommodating without compromising, learning, and driving each other forward to excesses of profound absurdity. I was at the first of the shows documented here.
Jazz theorizing be damned. It was like being eighteen again.
Dahoum, Guardian.co.uk
Dahoum, Guardian.co.uk
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Secretdeveloper, Youtube
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Anon, westhamonline.com
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Coxy, Dontstartmeoff.com
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Meninblack, Twitter
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Spanner, dontstartmeoff.com
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Pirate Crocodile, Twitter
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Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
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Microcuts 22, Twitter
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Aaron, comedy.co.uk
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Funday’schild, youtube.
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Joskins, Leeds Music Forum
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Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
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Leach Juice, Twitter
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Cabluigi, Guardian.co.uk
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Aiden Hearn, Twitter
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GRTak, finalgear.com
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Gwaites, Digitalspy
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World Without End, Twitter
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Bosco239, youtube
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Lucinda Locketts, Twitter
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Tin Frog, Twitter
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Lents, redandwhitekop.com
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Whoiscuriousgeorge, Youtube
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Henry Howard Fun, Twitter
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Bobby Bhoy, Twitter
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Iain, eatenbymissionaries
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Anamatronix, Youtube
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Guest, Dontstartmeoff.com
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DVDhth's grandparents, Twitter
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Peter Ould, Youtube
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Foxfoxton, Youtube
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Stokeylitfest, Twitter
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Genghis McKahn, Guardian.co.uk
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12dgdgdgdgdgdg, Youtube
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Slothy Matt, Twitter
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Gabrielle, Chortle.com
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Lancethrustworthy, Youtube
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Chez, Chortle.com
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98rosjon, Twitter
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Contrapuntal, Twitter
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Esme Folley, Actress, cellist, Twitter
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Peter Fears, Twitter
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Rubyshoes, Twitter
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Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com.
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Alex Quarmby, Edfringe.com
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Tokyofist, Youtube
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Maninabananasuit, Guardian.co.uk
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Borathigh5, Youtube
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Tres Ryan, Twitter
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Rudeness, Youtube
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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Sam Rooney, Youtube
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John Robins, Comedian
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Rowing Rob, Guardian.co.uk
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Stuart, Chortle
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Anonymous, don'tstartmeoff.com
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Pudabaya, beexcellenttoeachother.com
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Gmanthedemon, bbc.co.uk
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Joe, Independent.co.uk
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Wharto15, Twitter
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Tweeterkiryakou, Twitter
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Fowkes81, Twitter
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NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk
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Nicetime, Guardian.co.uk
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Deepbass, Guardian.co.uk
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Jackmumf, Twitter
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FBC, finalgear.com
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Z-factor, Twitter.
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Emilyistrendy, Youtube
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
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Richard Herring, Comedian
Syhr, breakbeat.co.uk
Syhr, breakbeat.co.uk
Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
Mrdavisn01, Twitter
Mrdavisn01, Twitter
Len Firewood, Twitter
Len Firewood, Twitter
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Sidsings000, Youtube
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Al Murray, Comedian
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Fairy Pingu, Twitter
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Mearecate, Youtube
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Pudabaya, Twitter
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Shit Crit, Twitter
Dick Socrates, Twitter
Dick Socrates, Twitter
Shane, Beverley, Dailymail.co.uk
Shane, Beverley, Dailymail.co.uk
Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
Ishamayura Byrd, Twitter
Ishamayura Byrd, Twitter
Jamespearse, Twitter
Jamespearse, Twitter
Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
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Neolab, Guardian.co.uk
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Danazawa, Youtube
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Guest1001, Youtube
Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
A D Ward, Twitter
A D Ward, Twitter
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Carcrazychica, Youtube
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General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
Joycey, readytogo.net
Joycey, readytogo.net
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Someoneyoudon'tknow, Chortle.com
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Lenny Darksphere, Twitter
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Neva2busy, dontstartmeoff.com
Alwyn, Digiguide.tv
Alwyn, Digiguide.tv
Mini-x2, readytogo.net
Mini-x2, readytogo.net
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Carla, St Albans, Dailymail.co.uk
Frankie Boyle, Comedian
Frankie Boyle, Comedian
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
Visualiser1, Twitter
Visualiser1, Twitter
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Pnethor, pne-online.com
Brighton Argus
Brighton Argus
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Peter Ould, Twitter
Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
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Robert Gavin, Twitter
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Kozzy06, Youtube
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Cojones2, Guardian.co.uk
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Patrick Kavanagh, Guardian.co.uk
Zombie Hamster, Twitter
Zombie Hamster, Twitter
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Etienne, Chortle.com
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Liam Travitt, Twitter
Mpf1947, Youtube
Mpf1947, Youtube
Brendon, Vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk
Brendon, Vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk